Inside the Braves with MLB.com's Mark Bowman

Hanson proves strong enough to start

After making it through his warmup session in the bullpen, Tommy Hanson has taken the mound to make this afternoon’s start against the Red Sox.

With Hanson battling the flu, the Braves were prepared to go with Kris Medlen.

The Braves also announced this morning that they’ll skip Kenshin Kawakami’s next turn in the rotation. Thus, Derek Lowe will start Tuesday’s series opener against the Phillies on regular rest. Jair Jurrjens and Javier Vazquez will start the final two games against the defending world champs.

Kawakami, who was struck on the right side of his neck with a Joba Chamberlain line drive on Wednesday, will start Friday’s series opener against the Nationals in Washington D.C. This arrangement will allow Hanson to start the following day with an extra day of rest.

The bad was Chipper, Kelly and Francoeur. Chipper tries to play matador which caused and error. Kelly dives for a line drive shot and kicks off his glove and just lays there until the entire play was over. Jeff which should have been backing him up, runs in half heartedly and then decides to sprint for the ball as soon as he sees Varitek going to 2nd. A little hustle from Jeff on this play would have made Varitek stay at 1st.

Then a possible double play is scrapped when Youkilis is on 1st and David Ortiz grounds to Kelly and instead of Kelly running Youkilis back to 1st and making sure that the faster of the 2 is tagged out, he decides to throw to 1st and make sure he gets the speedster David Ortiz out. The run down that ensued after getting Ortiz, resulted in Youkilis getting back to 1st safe.

I thought they taught the basics of baseball in Little League.

Buck Showalter talks about the need for team errors on Baseball tonight. Braves had 2 today. 1 of them cost a run when the score should have been 2 to 0.

Hanson will start against the Nationals in D.C. on July 4…The Braves have won each of the five games started by Hanson, who according to Elias is the first NL rookie pitcher to beat the Yanks and Red Sox in consecutive starts…And on another note, Jeff Francoeur pointed out that the Braves are now 7-0 when he’s worn his turkey underwear. Elias elected not to confirm this stat.

I didn’t think Hanson would live up to the hype. I really didn’t. I thought he would be good, but not great. A 2 or 3 type guy who consistently wins 12 games a year. Boy was I wrong… He has been ridiculous. 4-0? Dang.

And he has been the only Braves Starter to figure out, you have to throw shutouts to win games. I thought Vazquez figured it out and then he finally allowed a run last game. Silly him.

Out of curiosity, as I’ve now heard several places list the “historical” significance of Hanson’s past 2 wins…….exactly how many N.L. rookie pitchers have even had back-to-back starts versus the Red Sox and Yankees? Not taking away from the absolute value of what Tommy did, but just wondering how many pitcher’s have even had that chance.

I am so excited about Hanson. Not only does he have the stuff to be a star for a while he already has the pose. He looks like a seasoned veteran out there. That is arguably the most important part of his game at this point. He needs to sharpen his control on his fastball but other than that I have no complaints.http://moneyball.mlblogs.com/

Tommy Hanson has done nothing more than contiue what he proved he could do during spring training and the early part of the season in AAA. His success should come with no suprise and i wish him nothing but the best! The braves have a crucial series coming up this week and everyone seems to see the same problem, Im begging you bobby please leave kelly Johnson out of the lineup vs the phillies and see what an improvement there will be. If cox can cut ties to KJ and frank wren goes out and gets a us a real left fielder with power who isnt a defensive liability ( send GA to the AL where he can DH ) you are looking at a team who is primed to be a contender in the NL.

I agree that the Braves really need to add a hitter to be in contention. Holliday would be a great pick up but it takes quality to get quality. Kelly Johnson has some tools to succeed but doesn’t execute the way he should as a professional. Garret Anderson would be better suited to DH. I think it would be best for him at this point in his career. I don’t think Kotchman should be traded as he is still pretty young. Atlanta has Freddie Freeman waiting in the minors to take over first base but he is still only 19 and has yet to play above Advanced A ball. He could flop for all we know. Kotchman may not hit a ton of home runs but he does hit to the gaps and plays Gold Glove defense year round. He was the Angels’ first baseman of the future after all.http://moneyball.mlblogs.com/

And then, when Holiday signs for $16 million plus a year for 5 to 8 years with the Yankees/Angels/Red Sox/Mets, what do we do for next year? The Braves will not pay him near that much, period.
Say he is worth 8 wins this season, very aggressive prediction, that would take Atlanta to what, 85 and 77 for the year? Is that enough? And, if we make the playoffs, can we really go anywhere in them with that lineup, or are we one and done? Now is it worth it to give away the house for 2 months max?
That’s a tough call. I’m not sure I’d pull that trigger.
I’d be looking at maybe Marcus Thames of Detroit for a pitcher they can add to their bullpen and Barbaro Canizares. He would give us almost as much bump this season, and we would still have him in the mix for next year. Then we can go get a big dog over the winter and see how it works out.

K Morales was and is their !B of the future and present when the Teixeira trade was made. That’s why Kotchman is in Atlanta not Morales, who has 12 HR and 39 RBI at .277 so far this season. Kotchman was nothing more than the Angel’s version of Kelly Johnson. He won’t hit more than 8 homers for Atlanta, this season or any other. It was a lousy trade unless Marek becomes a closer down the road, and I seriously doubt he will.

rother,
Just to add to the Teixeira trade blues. Marek showed up to camp way overweight and after he predictably didn’t make the team he proceeded to walk 23 batters in 28 and 1/3 innings at Mississippi. For some reason the organization couldn’t get enough of his 5.08 ERA and promoted him to AAA Gwinnett where he’s pitched a scoreless inning allowing a walk and a hit. I used to be high on Marek. His days of me considering him a legitimate prospect are numbered.

I totally disagree about Kotchman. Kotchman was their full time first baseman before he was traded. He didn’t play much before hand because he was plagued by injury. In 2007 Kotchman played 137 games to Morales’ 43. He may not hit a ton of home runs but like I said, he hits to the gaps. He leads the team in doubles this year. I think you put too much stock into offense anyway. Kotchman is excellent defensively. Comparing Kelly Johnson to Casey Kotchman in any aspect of the game is ridiculous.http://moneyball.mlblogs.com/

I may be naive… and eternally optimistic, but I still see us as a .500 or better team. I see the Braves improving as a team once they get Infante, McClouth, and Escobar healthy. We’ve had a miserable first half on we’re only 5 games back. Our pitching is solid enough to keep us in every game. Once we get healthy again and Chipper turns it around – I still see us as an above average team. We obviously have yet to “peak”. We are lucky that nobody seems to want to run away with the division.
I agree with Rother that another legitimate bat could be the difference of 8 wins. So if that gets us to 89 or 90 wins… would that be enough? The way the division is playing out… it may only take 89-90 wins. With a 1-2-3-4-5 punch of Lowe, Vasquez, Kawakami, Jurrjens, and Hanson – if we did make the playoffs I believe we would have a great chance.
First things first though – we will not get anywhere without another bat in the lineup. That is essential. I’m hoping that GA keeps raising his stock. I’m sure there’s an AL team needing a dependable veteran DH. I was bummed out that DeRosa was traded to the cards. I think Holliday and Hawpe are obtainable.

Bravo, he was basically given to the Cards. That was tough. What was it, Perez the reliever and a player to be named later? Not much.

Kotchman was the starter then but Morales was the talk of Spring Training a couple years running as their big prospect. Kotchman was in the way.

Everyone gets hung up on offense after you lose 1-0 a few times, score 3 or less about half the time, and basically have to throw shutouts to get wins. Javy Vazquez is a little hung up on offense right now, so is JJ I bet. If Kotchman continues to hit the way he does, he will be a journeyman player for ever after the Braves. He plays a position that has to produce offensively for most teams. He is a slap hitter pure and simple. Maybe if he hit .320, or could run it would be different, but he has done and will do neither. Prado is a much better gap hitter than Kotchman and he hits for a higher average. The defense is a basic wash between the two. Kotchman is better, but the difference doesn’t make up for the lack of offense.

I don’t dislike Kotchman I just think the Braves need more out of 1B than he can realistically be expected to produce. I’ve never seen him drive a ball out of a park for a HR, only the occasional time that he wraps one around the foul pole.
In a sick twist of reality, there is a big buzz that Ryan Howard might get the Gold Glove this year. How meaningless would that award have become if this comes to pass?

Bravomania, we are a better team than 500 just the players have to believe in it. Yes getting Infante, McClouth and Escobar back will be a help, as long as Escobar leaves the attitude off the field.
With Hanson now, the starters are set. Bullpen is good enough.
It all comes down to the hitters. I would like to see them hit and run more and steal a few more bases. I know that we have players that have above average speed. They need to use it more.
I think once they figure out how to manufacture runs, improve on the left infield defense and someone steps up as the team leader, you might see them take off.
They are not out of this thing yet. The teams that are coming up are ones that we should fair good against. If the team goes 9-4 during this span, it will put us back at 500 ball going in to the break.
After the break they need to come out of the gates with both guns blazing.

As for the extra bat, I do not see this happening unless we give up some of the good talent in the minors. I do not want to see this happen. As for getting rid of GA, people had the chance during the off season for him and we ended up the lucky ones.

If Ryan Howard wins the Gold Glove I will be livid. Howard is mediocre at best. I have watched a ton of Phillies games (unfortunately) and he has no idea what is going on most of the time. Personally I find Howard to be the most overrated player in sports let alone baseball. I also like the Brad Hawpe idea. Too bad the Rockies look to be in it so far or else I think he would be the top target. If Atlanta can’t land a bat then they need to look forward to next year because the offense now can’t carry the pitching staff. The great work from the rotation and bullpen is the only reason Atlanta is in discussion for the playoffs right now.http://moneyball.mlblogs.com/

“Bravo, he was basically given to the Cards. That was tough. What was it, Perez the reliever and a player to be named later? Not much.”

Rother, you’re wrong about this one. Chris Perez is a very gifted prospect and projects to be a full time closer. It killed Cardinal fans and management to part with him. And we won’t know about the PTBNL until it is announced on Sept. 1 or earlier, but you can bet it’s a pretty dang good prospect. I have a feeling St. Louis will regret giving up Perez and another prospect for half a year of DeRosa.

I have one burning question that I would LOVE for someone to answer for me. Why doesn’t Bobby bat Casey Kotchman 2nd?????? This is driving me absolutely NUTS!!!! He did this for a stretch and we scored plenty of runs until Casey got hurt in Arizona when he was hit by that pitch on the shin. Casey is the PERFECT man to bat 2nd!!! He doesn’t have speed but he can draw walks and get base hits and that’s all you need in front of Chipper and Brian. I am sick of seeing Yunel ground into double plays!!! Finally Bobby quit putting Yunel batting 2nd. How long should it have taken to realize that Yunel grounds into WAY TO MANY double plays when the lead off batter gets on????? And then to top this off he put Kelly batting 2nd yesterday!!!! That is laughable!!! Kelly should be on the bench with Frenchy. Put Prado and Blanco in their places!!! I can’t wait for Omar to come back so he can REPLACE KELLY. If Bobby doesn’t do this then I am through with the Braves this year. I will just wait until training camp opens for football. Bobby plays favorites way tooooo much!!! If the guy isn’t getting the job done then BENCH HIM!!! Just like last year when Joe Simpson was basically begging Bobby to put Blanco in leadoff instead of Kelly and Yunel. It seams we always start the game off with 2 outs when those to morons bat 1 and 2 but ole Bobby cant see this or either he is playing favorites and doesn’t want to see it. I am sick of watching the same batting order produce no runs when you can put Casey batting second and see what happens!!!

Badnews42,
The only thing I can think of is that makes our line-up too lefty-heavy at the top. Though Chipper’s batting better right-handed this season. Still, the top of our order would be too LOOGY vulnerable and the bottom if it is completely worthless most of the time because Francoeur sucks. Though I do like the idea of batting Kotchman 2nd. Just not in this line-up.

PWHjort, Adam Rosenberg did a nice piece on my buddy, Buddy Carlyle, and you should read it. Its on the Braves website. I know a lot of people here don’t like Buddy Carlyle, but he was probably the best pitcher on the staff last year in terms of doing his job. He always shut the door when Morton/Campillo/Jo Jo/Parr gave up 6 runs in 3 innings. If he can get back on track, he should take back his role (which was filled by Bennett), and the Bullpen should look great.http://knoble.mlblogs.com

Since everyone wants to talk about the line up ill give my two sence.
1-Mclouth
2-Prado(yes,prado)
3-Chipper
4-McCann
5-Escobar
6-Anderson
7-Kotchman
8-Francouer.
That line up gives us one more righty,and honestly i believe Escobar would give McCann more protection than Anderson.Escobar has been our 3rd best hitter this year so i think he deserves to have more at bats with runners on base.Prado seriously needs to play more,i have loved him since he has been with the Braves,and he knows how to go the other way when McLouth is being held on.

Since everyone wants to talk about the line up ill give my two sence.
1-Mclouth
2-Prado(yes,prado)
3-Chipper
4-McCann
5-Escobar
6-Anderson
7-Kotchman
8-Francouer.
That line up gives us one more righty,and honestly i believe Escobar would give McCann more protection than Anderson.Escobar has been our 3rd best hitter this year so i think he deserves to have more at bats with runners on base.Prado seriously needs to play more,i have loved him since he has been with the Braves,and he knows how to go the other way when McLouth is being held on.

Darion, that list sure gives some insight as to how to “break a curse” doesn’t it? It obviously took more than “choudah”.
Most of those names are not really shockers. I’m not surprised to see some guys who were coming back from serious injuries in there as well. Slap their hands and let’s move on.

Thanks for the link PWH. As soon as I saw the list I didn’t believe it was “the list” as there were far too many big names on there…though, on some level none of the names was just outlandish to me. The listed order had raised my suspicions as well, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on the reason the order bothered me. Props to those that figured out the exact reason the order was fishy. As they say in the biz “no publicity is bad publicity” and I got the feeling as soon as I saw the source that it was some website just fishing to increase its own hype. I hope their 24 hours of “fame” was worth cashing in all credibility going forward.

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